As part of the No Excuse Mom 12-week Transformation Contest, I created a fitness calendar based on the guidelines and calendar print outs provided at this link. I loaded up my son in the car, and headed to the store to purchase a few supplies. By a few I mean poster board, and some wall hanging supplies. I printed the calendars and filled them in. I then added a little color with markers.
Honestly the most fun was finding motivation quotes and fitness inspiration on the web. The hubby and I found all sorts of relevant images, including those of the body type that I am going to be working towards. I don't want to be exactly like her, I want to become my own version of what she represents. That is the strong, healthy, and fit Gina Carano.
Here are some pictures of my fitness calendar and inspiration board.
It will be fun to see the calendar become more colorful as I enter my fitness information over the next 12 weeks. One of the motivational photos that we found was very appropriate given the challenge.
It has been quite awhile since my last post, and I now feel that the time is right for me to pick this whole blog thing up again. You may or may not be wondering why, either way I'll explain. While we don't have to start at the beginning, we can momentarily travel back to January 2013.
January 2013 is an interesting time point for me, because it was at this time that I realized that there had to be something better, something more that I was missing. I often thought about a scene from a favorite movie of mine, Beauty and the Beast. Belle has just refused Gaston's marriage proposal, and is singing about her feelings on the whole situation. She runs out into the field overlooking a beautiful, mountainous landscape singing, "I want adventure in the great wide somewhere, I want it more than I can tell."
Don't get me wrong, it's not that I was unhappy with life on the whole. I just knew that I am capable of so much more. My issue was that I didn't have a clue where to start. A friend of mine gifted a teleseminar to me. The course, Call 2 Action by Michael Bernoff, was exactly what I needed. I got the kick in the butt I needed to unlock what I already have inside of me. I took several more of his courses and have been to the Core Strength Experience event twice now, and would go again and again. The portion of my journey that occurred from January 2013 to now deserves a post all its own. I can sum it up by saying that I did a lot of soul searching and became more aware of my own wants and how, up to that point, my thought processes had been keeping me right where I was. Which was exactly where I was trying to move on from.
One of those thought processes is what brings me back to the blog today. I have decided to not only take part in a 12 week transformation challenge, but to also share my journey and transformation here.
This may not seem like a big deal to others. It is for me. I have been battling thoughts in my head that say "you're not good enough" or ask "what if you fail and everyone knows?" Not just in the fitness realm either, in a majority of my life.
Just last week I was talking to my husband about undertaking this transformation challenge. It was well past midnight as I sat in the middle of the living room floor with tears running down my cheeks as we spoke. I realized that I was afraid to say what I really wanted as my fitness goal. I struggled to even let it come across my lips. My mind was at war with itself. Why? What's so hard about admitting my desire, my goal? If I admit it, it means it is real. It means that someone else would know and if I didn't reach that goal they'd see that failure too. Really, who am I to want that goal anyway? As I had often been told in life, "you're so small, why are you worried about weight and fitness?" Were they right? Was I being ungrateful for what I have?
We talked through it, and I realized that I needed this challenge in more ways than I knew. It was going to have me admit to myself and those around me my fitness goal. What is it? I want a visibly strong, healthy, and fit physique. I want my hard work to be visible in the form of defined muscles and toned body. Some may still wonder why I'm worried about that, or think that I want it to look good in the eyes of others. What many don't realize is that while in the grand scheme of things I may not have had to deal with being at an extreme weight, it doesn't always take an extreme to cause an internal struggle. I have been heavier than I wanted to be, yet because of the way my body holds the fat (conveniently around my mid-section) I have been able to hide it under strategically purchased clothing styles. While those around me may not see it, I do when I look in the mirror. I have struggled with trying to lose weight and have had frustrations of no longer fitting in my favorite jeans. I've felt like a failure and been down on myself over my fitness level. I want to feel confident in my own skin, and I want to see evidence of the hard work.
I have decided to be honest with myself about what I really want and own it. In this journey, I feel that in order to truly tackle it, I must write it out. Not only to hold myself accountable, but to also tackle another struggle in my mind. That's a topic for another day...
I invite you to follow along, or even take on your own challenge. Step by step, one day at a time, I will walk this journey.
I am doing Warrior Dash tomorrow and wanted to make my own themed shirt. This was so simple, cheap, and took less than 30 minutes!
You need a shirt that bleach will work to lighten the color on, cardboard, a small amount of bleach, paint brush, scissors, and tape.
I first found the image I wanted, printed it out and taped it down on the shirt as a stencil. I then put a piece of cardboard inside the shirt (so it won't bleed through to the back).
Then, I took out some bleach, a paint brush, and started tracing around the image.
I free-handed the details and lettering.
Now it is sitting to dry, and let the bleach take effect!
I have had pictures from when I made this recipe on my phone for several weeks. Now I am finally posting it! We love these, and they make great left overs as well!
In order to make the Meat Pie recipe, you will first need the Savory Pie Dough recipe.
Savory Pie Dough
2 cups warm water
2 Tbsp sugar
1 package active dry yeast
1/4 cup vegetable oil
2 tsp salt
1 egg
5 cups flour
Place water and sugar in large bowl. Add yeast, stirring gently. Allow to rest for 5 minutes. Add oil, salt and egg. Fold in flour gradually
Depending on the brand of the flour, use judgements to decide if more or less water is required. Knead until all flour leaves the edges of the bowl and dough is smooth.
Pat a little butter or oil over dough to prevent crusting. Cover with plastic sheet, then tea towel.
Let rest in a warm place for 30-40 minutes.
Dough
While the dough is resting, you can prepare the filling.
Meat Pies
1 Savory Pie Dough recipe
1.5 lbs beef or lamb (ground)
2 large tomatoes (finely diced)
1/2 cup parsley (finely chopped)
1/4 cup tomato paste
1/2 cup tomato sauce
2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp sinnamon
1 medium onion (finely chopped)
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
soft butter
While dough is rising, combine all the above ingredients in a bowl and mix well
Filling
After dough rises, divide dough in half and roll to 1/8 inch thickness on a floured board. Cut with a round cutter 3 or 4 inches in diameter. (Save unused dough from cutting. Roll into a ball, cover, let rise to be used again)
Heat oven to 400 degrees F
Place a large tablespoon of the filling in each round within 1/2 inch of the edge.
Bring the edges up and fold slightly towards the center pressing the 1/2 inch edge down to make a ridge.
Place on greased cookie sheet.
Bake for 15-20 minutes. If necessary, turn oven to broil until tops are golden brown. Brush edges with butter.
Optional - May be served with a squeeze of lemon juice on top
Here is a pita bread recipe that I make from my Lebanese cookbook - A Taste of Lebanon: Cooking Today the Lebanese Way by Mary Salloum
2.5 cups lukewarm water
1 tsp sugar
3.5 tsp active dry yeast
1/2 tsp sale
5.5 cups flour (white or whole wheat)
Place water and sugar in large bowl and stir. Add yeast and stir slightly. Let rest for 5 minutes.
Mix in salt and flour gradually, starting with 3.5 cups flour then adding the rest. More or less water may be required, depending on the brand of the flour. Use enough flour to prevent dough from clinging to bowl. Knead well for 5 minutes. Place a little vegetable oil on palms of hands and smooth all over to prevent crusting. Cover with plastic sheet then tea towel and allow to rest for 20-30 minutes.
Set over to 500 degrees F
Divid dough into 8 balls. Roll out each ball into 1/4 inch in thickness. Let rest covered for 20 minutes on generously floured table or counter top.
Bake on greased cookie sheets for 5-8 minutes or until lightly browned. The higher the oven temperature the better the results.
May be kept in a plastic bag in the refrigerator for several days or may be frozen
To warm Pita, place the round on the rack in the oven at 300 degrees F for 1-2 minutes.
What a feeling to open my eyes and see things across the room! This is amazing! It makes the ordeal yesterday totall worth it! Now if you think I'm overreacting all I have to say is I have gone from 20/2000 (yes that is 2 thousand!) to 20/25 vision in one day! The doctor said I will continue to improve over the next weeks and months. Basically I have 80% of my vision by the second day, 90% within the first few weeks and 100% over the next few months.
The Lord has definitely blessed me and I am so thankful. The smallest things are so exciting. I mean who wants to have to hold the shampoo bottle an inch from their face while in the shower to make sure you can read what you're using?!
I still have a small bit of glare in my eyes but am so impressed with how quickly this has progressed!
A HUGE thank you to Dr Grin and his staff for being so encouraging and supportive! They took me through each step of the way and made sure I was comfortable and informed.
Yay! I got through the procedure! It was quite an experience overall. We got to the surgery location and checked in. We got called back where I signed paperwork, and they went over how I was to use the different eye drops after operation and other information.
I then was given a Vallium to help calm my nerves and keep me from wanting to pass out. My eyes were scanned to have a map of my eyes for the machine to use to customize the correction of my vision. We did a quick eye exam as well. We were given head covers and booties to wear before moving into the procedure room.
The first room I went into was the machine to create the corneal flap. I felt a bit of pressure and had quite a strange sensation on my eye. This was by far the most uncomfortable part of the procedure. Dr. Grin was so comforting, and talked me through each stage of the surgery. This was very helpful, especially when after the flap is created, there is a period of time I couldn't see at all. This would've been very scary had I not had warning.
We then moved into another room to do the laser treatment. I felt absolutely nothing throughout this portion of the surgery. I could see that he was moving the flap but couldn't feel anything. The laser then went to work correcting my eye, and Dr. Grin then replaced the flap and gave me several eye drops. We did the other eye and were done. I was at the facility for a total of 1.5-2 hours. The procedure itself took only about 20 minutes. Literally the time that machines were at work on my eyes was about 2-3 minutes per eye.
I am in awe that we have technology that take my sight from worse than 20/200 to where I can see without aide of corrective lenses. I am so blessed! I will be having a follow-up appointment in the morning and look forward to waking up and being able to see without putting on glasses!
My husband was so supportive, and I don't know that I would have done as well without him there holding my hand.
